Reviewer Beth Burke: Beth is a college
professor and
freelance editor. She recently retired as a homeschooling mom when
her son graduated high school. Her love of books spans half a
century, during which time she has read from a wide range of genres. In her free time she creates quilts and tends to a garden.

There are books that I remember because
they are poignant, profound, or thought-provoking. To say that
Everything Matters will be remembered because it is all that and more
is an understatement. I have found myself still chewing on questions
days after reading it.

The premise of Ron Currie’s second
novel (after God Is Dead

) is that Junior Thibodeau has somehow been
singularly but debatably gifted with knowledge of the end of the
world. What he does with the knowledge and its ramifications,
form the main story line.

Ron Currie could have written this
as a rebuttal to the Book of Ecclesiastes (“...vanity of vanities.
All is vanity”). He definitely explores Judeo-Christian values. The
underlying story line’s theme is love. Junior’s romantic love and
love for his family make the title statement worthy of consideration;
otherwise, what is the point? Morally, Junior wrestles with such
ideas as whether the end justifies the means or whether two wrongs
can make a right, especially when he indulges his own base instincts.

But, knowing what he knows, how could
anyone really blame him? How would a person act in the same
situation? If the end date is irrevocable, why should he act in a
routine way? Knowing how to spend a specific expanse of time can be
problematic for humans. We see this when a diseased person is told by
a doctor “you have X days/weeks/months to live.” Many people
react with self-indulgence. In Junior’s case, he’s told the end
date from the beginning. His response could have been to curl up in a
corner and ignore the passage of time.

In the way that the plots of movies
such as Back to the Future and Groundhog Day caution against changes
in the space/time continuum, Junior pokes at the fabric of this
dimension to see if in fact anything DOES matter. What happens if he
tries to change the course of events? When he goes to extreme
measures to stop some events while letting others proceed unimpeded,
the outcome is not what he expects.

I started off somewhat confused by
the first few pages—confused but intrigued by the writing. I enjoy
a puzzle and the beginning is certainly cryptic. Currie’s format
continued to keep me on my toes with few print cues to the mark the
passage of time—interesting, inasmuch as the book hinges on the
measure of time. The numbered messages from an omniscient source are
at first odd, but later become eagerly anticipated news bulletins.
This being with the disembodied voice in Junior’s head remains
enigmatic. Is it God? A god? Aliens? The question is never really
answered, not even by Junior, leaving me to wonder who IS in charge?
And does it matter? I consider a book like this that leaves me with
more questions than when I started to be a worthwhile read.